Do or Die
by shoujo22
Summary: Truth or dare...with a Trigun twist!
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note**: I don't know whether this is a direct result of severe boredom or motivation ', but I've decided to try and finish this story. I want to say, first off, that while I may make references to the Trigun anime and/or manga, this story has absolutely nothing to do with the original plot of either. It will become pretty silly and well, downright ridiculous at times, so please don't take any of this stuff seriously. Secondly, I'm not much of a writer. Lab reports and scientific papers hardly count as literary masterpieces. I've never actually even finished (let alone written) a full fic before either, so this will be my first attempt at doing so. In other words, please go easy on me, okay? Lastly, If I've made any grammatical errors then let me apologize in advance. I don't have a beta reader and my eyes can only take so much MS Word, okay? That being said, please enjoy! Don't forget to tell me what you think.

--shoujo22


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: I neither own nor claim to own Trigun or any of its characters._

**Do or Die**

**Chapter 1**

**By**

**Shoujo22**

There was nothing special about this particular day. As usual, the four wondering souls traveled along the desert lands in hopes of approaching an inn sooner than later. Fatigue was finally beginning to set in-- a direct result of driving without pause for the last two days; and the temperature seemed to be increasing everyday, and with each passing second.

Wolfwood, who was the choice driver this time, had to try twice as hard as his companions to keep his eyes open. He had swerved off course twice already. The second altercation with the dirt road had earned him two of the most venomous looks from the back seat passengers (Vash and Meryl) that he'd ever seen in his life; so obviously, the priest's undivided attention to the task at hand was the only thing that would ensure his living to see another day.

Milly, who accompanied the exhausted driver in the front, couldn't help feeling sorry for the priest, so she passed on her opportunity to rest, opting to keep him company instead.

"And so on my fifteenth birthday, my sisters and I managed to sneak out of the house at night. That's when I had my first drink." she beamed.

Wolfwood snickered. "You actually did something **that **mischievous? And I can't believe that someone actually gave you alcohol. You were just a kid!"

Milly nodded, giggling as well. "Well, I was quite tall for my age. I was also a very mature fifteen-year-old." Her hand gestures emphasized her well developed curves.

Wolfwood's brow rose at the hint of suggestiveness in his companion's voice and actions. It didn't take much more than that to make him understand what she was getting at. "I'm ah…quite sure that you were. -ahem- So what'd they give you to drink anyway? Scotch? Whiskey?"

Without so much as an inkling of hesitation she replied, "I'll never forget. It was a shot of Wild Turkey. Nearly knocked me off my feet, but I hung in there. I even drank the local drinking champ under the table on my very first go. Thirty-nine shots in a row."

"You must have had a hell of a hangover." He looked briefly towards Milly, eyebrows furrowed in confusion, then back to road. "But I'm curious. How'd you get home without raising suspicion? You're the type that never lies no matter what, and I'm sure your parents must've noticed something wasn't quite right."

Milly smiled deviously. "Why, that's very simple Mr. Priest. I didn't lie to my parents at all."

"You just **told** them you'd been out drinking?!"

"Nope," she grinned, "my sisters just told them that something I'd drank the day before had given me a bad stomach ache."

Both Wolfwood and Milly couldn't help laughing at the less than serious conversation. No matter how simple or repetitive they were, it was always good to have someone to talk to and laugh with.

The two less-than-lively passengers in the back, however, thought otherwise.

There was absolutely nothing that either of them would have like more than to simply get to an inn (without so much as a peep from their fellow passengers) and into some kind of bed. Vash placed his hands over his ears and whimpered, kicking Wolfwood's seat like a spoiled child. "Would you two keep it down? I was just getting into a good sleep back here. Have a little pity on me would you?" He whined.

Before Vash could even focus his attention on the groaning noise beside him, he was blind sided by something small, white and swift. Lying right there in his lap was the culprit, Meryl's shoe. "WHY'D YOU DO THAT INSURANCE GIRL?" A big, red blotch crested over the gunman's face and began to throb like hell. Vash winced, latching on to the assaulted area in an attempt to soothe it, but rather than helping, he only made it hurt worse. "AHHHHHH! IT HURTS!" he screamed.

The pounding vein in Meryl's forehead was almost as intimidating as the suddenly sharp teeth that she bared. "Then learn how to shut up every once and a while ya moron!"

"You didn't have to hit me. You could have just asked instead you know." He winced again. "They started it. Why didn't you hit them too?" Vash whimpered, nodding towards Milly and Wolfwood.

"**They** weren't the ones responsible for putting me through so much hell for the last three days. You'd think that a perpetrator like you would have sense enough to step light after all that you've done to me! Honestly," she crossed her arms over her chest. "The least you could do is shut up."

Milly was grinning from ear to ear, when all that Wolfwood could manage to do was clear his throat. From experience he knew better than to interfere when the smaller woman and the needle noggin were having one of their trademark disputes; especially since Vash was the one that had caused yet another set back in the girls' work.

Funds were already stretching thin, not to mention the fact that Meryl was the only person that had any extra cash to spare. Then there was also the fact that she had not one, not two, but three other people to account for now, because she'd been elected the 'emergency funding source'-representative on a whim. She was always the 'responsible' one in the group, so she'd always been regarded as the head care-taker (so to speak) by default. That is not to say that the others weren't capable of taking care of themselves; it was just that whenever something bad took place, Meryl was usually the one who had to smooth things over. It was always like that.

"Maybe you two should separate for a while." Wolfwood offered. "Being crammed together in one room for far too long would take a toll on anybody. The two of you have probably just had enough of each other for right now." He stated. "Not to mention the fact that those bounty hunters thought we were your accomplices. Right needle noggin?"

Meryl growled, face just as red as cherries from embarrassment. "How could they make such a stupid mistake?" She grabbed Vash by the collar of his trademark red coat and pointed at her own face. "Do I look like some sort of criminal to you? Do I?! Do I look like a thug to you?! Hm?!"

Vash laughed nervously, holding his hands up in an 'I give' position. Obviously she was still extremely pissed about the whole bounty hunter situation. The over-sized 'criminal-catchin' machines had not only tried to kill Vash, but Meryl as well. "It's not like I wanted any of that to happen. And what about my thanks? If it wasn't for me, there's no telling what those guys would have done to you."

Meryl's felt her anger increased by .10 of a point on the '_you're pissing me off_' meter. Her grip tightened on Vash's collar as she leaned in closer to his face. "If it wasn't for **you, **we wouldn't have lost more than half of our funds in hotel damages! You don't have a right to ask for thanks you freaking sleaze bag!"

"Well gee Meryl," Milly began "it didn't seem like you were that upset about the money. Could it be that you're still embarrassed about the fact that Mr. Vash tou-"

"MILLY!" Her face burned with a mix of shame and a bit of anger. Milly's little slip had caught the petite spit fire of guard, causing her to loosen her grip on Vash's coat. Vash, in turn, wasted no time scurrying as close to his side of the car as possible.

Wolfwood snickered. "Well Vash sure wasn't complaining. I don't think that he was bothered one bit by that little incident."

It was now Vash's turn to blush at the memory of all that had transpired just a few days ago…

**_Flashback…._**

_Vash stood drying his face in the mirror. He lifted a weary hand up to his eyes, fingering the seemingly everlasting baggage underneath them. "Will they ever go away?" He whined. "I have a reputation to maintain." Amber eyes searched around for some sort of facial cream that one of the girls might have had lying around in the place. In his mind, there was absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to be 'bag free', even as a man. _

_In the process of his search, a ticking sound caught the gunman's attention. "That's funny." He frowned. "This bathroom doesn't have a clock…does it?" He was right. There was nothing on the wall, nothing on the toiletry stand, and nothing on the door. The only place left that he hadn't searched was…._

_Vash gulped. A small voice inside his head urged him to pull the mirror back and look into the medicine cabinet. He obeyed, and in doing so…he found a neatly packaged little bomb._

_Immediately, Vash ran from the bathroom, looped a strong arm around the startled Meryl's waist, held her close, and jumped from the fifth story window. Despite his haste, Vash made certain to protect the jilted damsel from any and all glass shards on the way down. _

_Thank goodness for small town's and their local businesses' obsessions with out selling each other. If it weren't for the mattresses that had been on display, the only thing that would have broken their falls (and their bones) would have been the unforgiving ground. Meryl groaned, head pounding from the sudden impact of the collusion. Everything had taken place so quickly that the poor thing didn't even have time to scream. She was in complete and total shock, unable to even form simplest of sentences. That is, until she realized that she was in the middle of town, in nothing more than her underwear. As she was being held down by Vash's dead weight, it took all that the raven-haired beauty had to at least crane her neck; she just had to scan for onlookers. The situation was too embarrassing for her not to._

"_Oh thank god." She sighed. Luckily, the only people out and about at this hour had been Milly and Wolfwood. "Hey! Come help us!" she shouted in an attempt to get their attention. _

"_Oh my!" Milly was the first to spot them. Both she and Wolfwood moved to Meryl's side with haste, both wondering what exactly had happened to their friends. "Are you okay?!" Milly questioned, concerned evident in both her voice and expression. _

"_Yeah, I'm fine." Meryl replied. "But Vash hasn't moved since we landed. I think that he might be uncon-"_

_Milly frowned at her friend's sudden cut off. "Meryl, what's wrong?"_

"_HOW DARE YOU?! VASH YOU PERVERT!"_

**_End of Flashback..._**

Vash sighed impatiently. "Is that what this is all about? I've already told you how sorry I was about all of that. Well…..I'm sorry for most of it anyway." True enough he was sorry for the damaged that had been caused because of him, but there was no way that he'd ever apologize for "accidentally" fondling the cleavage of a half naked woman in the process. Of course, he'd never tell Meryl that to her face. "Besides, we got to know each other a little better back then. I was actually hoping that we could-"

"You," Meryl cut him off in mid-sentence. Vash gulped and scooted closer to the door, prepared to tuck and roll at any given moment. "YOU PERVERT!" Before he had time to react, Meryl had lunged forward and grabbed the gunman by the throat. "Ungh nan't bweath. Herp beeee!" Vash managed to yell between all the gagging and coughing.

In the process of Meryl's leap, Wolfwood had been dealt a serious super-kick to the right jaw. "AAAAHHHH!"

Reflexively, he released the steering wheel and cradled his face; which in turn caused the car to veer to the right and off of the road. The unguided vehicle took on a life of its own, hitting every dry plant, bump, and crater that it came across in the process. Meanwhile, a horrified Milly was trying with everything she had to detach Meryl's kung-fu grip from Vash's throat. "Meryl, stop! You're gonna kill him!" She pleaded.

"Good!" Meryl yelled.

"Herp beeee!" Vash gurgled. Foam slowly gathered in the corners of his mouth as he began to slip further and further into unconsciousness…

**_Minutes later…._**

The tension in the air was so thick that it could have been cut with a knife. Milly, who was now regarding her friends with a very disapproving look, decided that these people had been on edge for far too long as far as she was concerned. The situation was so alien to her. Her family would never have behaved that way; not even in a million years! These people, however, were like a bunch of sticks in the mud. How much more of this could she take?! '_That's it._' She thought. '_Something has to be done about this._' With one solid nod, Milly quickly turned around in her seat, facing both Vash and Meryl, and then shouted "I know! How about a good old fashioned game of 'Do or Die'?!"

Wolfwood puffed on his cigarette, almost instantly regretting the drag that he'd taken. The red mark (i.e. boot imprint) on his jaw was not all that big, but it sure stung like hell. "Do or Die? Never heard of it."

Milly pouted, placing an idle finger under her chin. "Hm… How can I explain this? There's supposed to be an older name for it. I believe it was called 'truth or dare' in the old days."

Wolfwood's slapped his hand against the steering wheel. "I do know that game. The kids back at the orphanage used to play it from time to time. I Actually I learned some pretty interesting stuff about them because of it. So sure! Why the hell not? I mean, I got nothin' to hide. What about the two of you?"

Vash, balled up in the fetal position and lumped up from head to toe, was too afraid to talk. In the meantime, Meryl was starring at him like a lion just waiting to pounce on its prey at any given moment. "Yeah whatever you decide." She answered, still daring Vash to move.

Wolfwood nodded. "Good? Needle noggin?"

Vash peeped at his assailant, who had just stopped her 24-hour surveillance spree, then relaxed. She was finally cooling down. "I guess it couldn't hurt. But I haven't played any kind of game in years."

"That's because you're an outlaw Mr. Vash. Nobody really likes outlaws." Milly offered.

"Gee, thanks a lot Milly." Vash retorted.

Laughter once again filled the air. Despite chain of weird events, and the numerous bouts of violence that had taken place, everyone was finally starting to lighten up. Just the thought of it all made Milly squealed with delight. But all that aside, there were several things that needed to be taken care of in preparation of the game. Milly shushed her colleagues and began her dictation. "Okay, it's now time to move on to the first step of the game." She clasped her hands together and asked "Is everyone here familiar with 'Rock, Paper, Scissors?" Everyone nodded, thus prompted her to continue. "Good, that's all I needed to know. Pull the car over for a moment if you would Mr. Priest."

**_Moments later…_**

The car was parked near a sandy mound that subsisted not too far from where they all stood. Milly's usually cheerful face was replaced by a mask of sheer concentration and determination. Vash reached into his pocket and pulled out his trademark yellow-tinted shades and slid them smoothly onto his face. Meryl straightened up a few locks of her hair and tapped the toe of her small boot against the ground. Wolfwood smiled cockily and took one last puff from his cigarette before casually throwing it onto the ground.

In the next few intense moments a large cloud drifted along in the sky, shielding them all from the double suns. The wind picked up drastically, blowing hair and clothes every which way, yet no one lost his or her intensity. A lone tumble weed rolled by as the four stared each other down. Then….

"Rock! Paper! Scissors! Go!" They all cried out in unison.

The cloud that once overwhelmed the double suns drifted away casually. The wind died down, still managing to pick up a few dust fragments here and there. Meanwhile, all four travelers stood staring at each other's hands to gauge the results.

A slow, mischievous grin spread across Wolfwood's face. "One itty bitty piece of paper…beats three rocks. I believe that makes me the winner." Producing yet another cigarette from his pocket, the priest made it a point to make eye contact with each one of companions. "Now then, who will I choose first?" He taunted….before his gaze finally settled on Meryl.

**_End of Chapter 1_**

Author's note: Okay, so it's been like, a few years since I last did anything here on . Well, now I have time to actually do stuff, so yeah… Anyway, if anyone's interested in this little mess of a story, then feel free to leave feedback -no pressure-. I'm not interested in flames though, so please keep those types of comments to yourselves. Also, please email any and all suggestions, comments, (…confessions of undying love) or anything that you may want me to address in private directly to me. 'Kay?

Yeah, so I'll be editing the second chapter tonight and starting a third tomorrow. Hopefully it'll be finished by no later than Saturday. Thanks for reading!

--shoujo22


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